The downfall of us all
by dollysdiary
Summary: Draco is sorted into Gryffindor, but everything is not as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

There is a long pause, which seems to last a lifetime. _It should be obvious_ he thinks, mentally rolling his eyes at the idiocy of this supposedly 'all-knowing' hat.

He has always known which house would be his, ever since he was little and his father first told him about Hogwarts. He glances happily at the table that would soon become his home, decked in silver and green.

A few more seconds pass before the hat shouts "GRYFFINDOR" and then falls silent once more. _This can't be real _he thinks, clinging tightly to the hat and refusing to let McGonagall remove it from his head. "Come now Draco" she says softly, trying not to let her obvious shock register on her face "go and join your new house". Draco stands slowly and makes his way to the wrong side of the hall, the side decked in red and gold.

_This can't be real _

_This can't be real _

_This can't be real _

It's only then that Draco realises that none of the other students have made a sound since the hat announced his fate. No round of applause like for the other students, no shouts of welcome, just a shocked silence. It seems that nobody can quite believe that the son of a suspected death eater would end up in Gryffindor. He doesn't blame them, he can't believe it himself. He settles himself into a seat at the end of the table, as far away from the rest of the house as he can manage, and tucks his head into his hands on the table to wait out the rest of the sorting.

_Dear Father, _

He writes.

_I don't know how to tell you this. _

He pauses, staring at the piece of parchment in front of him. How do you tell the person that you most want to make proud that you have already failed him?

_The sorting hat made a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. Somehow I have been sorted into Gryffindor. Me. A Gryffindor. I've never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. I know that you will be able to fix this, perhaps a letter to the minister? _

_I'm sorry I've let you down. I won't blame you if you don't write me back. _

_Your Son, _

_Draco. _

_That will have to do _Draco thinks with a sigh before rolling the parchment and handing it to his owl, Bubo. He watches for a while as Bubo flies into the night, first watching as he spreads his wings and soars, and then just staring at the space the eagle owl used to occupy. He supposes that he has put this off for long enough, and he really is exhausted - it's been a very long day. It's time to go and see his new dorms.

Pushing up from his seat in the owlery he forces his legs to lead him down the staircase out into the corridor. Everything in him aches to skulk down to the dungeons, which he knows from father's stories are hidden partially under the lake, but instead he starts upwards towards the tower where Gryffindor are housed. He has to resist the urge to vomit in his mouth.

"What time do you call this?" the Fat Lady drawls from within her frame, "first year students should not be out of bed this late, especially not on their first night in the castle". Draco glares at her wishing he could set her alight "Caput Draconis" is his only response.

"I didn't ask for the password" the Fat Lady pouts, but she allows her portrait to swing open revealing the common room all the same, grumbling something about reporting him to McGonagall. The laughter and chatter from within stops very quickly as Draco steps through the portrait hole. He scowls, glancing around the room and seeing all eyes are on him, "If you have something to say, then say it" he breathes, working hard to control his anger. _It's not like I chose to be here_ he thinks bitterly.

The silence stretches for a few seconds before two heavily freckled teenage redheads step up from the sofa they were sat on together in the corner. "Welcome to Gryffindor" on says grinning, "I'm Fred and this is George" says the other, pointing at his twin next to him and holding out his hand for Draco to shake. He can't help it, he physically recoils from the outstretched hand. "Weasleys, no doubt" he spits "I'd rather be alone than associate with the likes of you". The twins don't flinch nor let the smiles drop from their faces, Fred shrugging his shoulder softly as if to show that they couldn't really care less, and then the pair turn around and return to their seats, starting back up in their previous conversation.

Draco skulks across the room and starts up the stairs that he assumes lead to his dorm. "Draco, wait -" Fred yells, but it's too late. The stairs turn into a slide beneath his feet, and he falls into a heap at the bottom. Laughter erupts in the room, quickly stifled as Draco rights himself and glares "Who did this?!" he demands, "Just wait until my father hears about this..."

"Nobody did it" George explained, clearly trying to keep back his laughter "That's the staircase to the Girls dorms. Any male who tries would get the same response." Draco feels his cheeks turn scarlet, but he's not sure if it's with anger or embarrassment. Maybe it's both. He turns swiftly and stomps up the other staircase, opening the door to his new dorm. It's decked out sickeningly in red and gold. He can see a large black case with the name 'Malfoy' emblazoned upon it in silver at the foot of one of the beds, and he assumes that this is his bed. Thankful that the room is empty he climbs in and draws the curtains around him.

_Father will fix this. He has to. _


	2. Chapter 2

Minerva glances narrowly at the headmaster over the top of her glasses. He is wearing a long purple and blue robe with what looks like little jewels embedded in a random pattern along the neckline. He is playing idly with his beard and clearly doesn't seem to be taking this whole thing as seriously as he should be."Surely you can't think this is a good idea Headmaster" She says despairingly, trying not to let her clear disapproval show in her voice and failing miserably. Dumbledore continues to smile and winks at her by way of answer. Severus chuckles from the chair next to her and Minerva just shakes her head.

.

.

He wakes suddenly in a panic, skin slick with sweat. _It was just a dream _he tells himself. Only, it wasn't just a dream. Draco Malfoy was really sorted into Gryffindor. He checks his watch, deciding that its unlikely he will be able to get back to sleep now that the realization has set in. 5:30am. _Perfect._

He rolls out of bed as quietly as he can, hoping to avoid waking anybody else in the dorm. He doesn't need to deal with famous Potter or his stupid ginger sidekick this early in the morning. He throws on some robes _red trim, eugh _and makes his way quietly down the stairs. He stops with a shock as he reaches the bottom. Harry Potter is sat in an arm chair, staring idly at his wand, twisting it back and forth between his fingers. Draco considers retreating back up the stairs, but too quickly Harry glances up and notices him and the chance is lost. He quickly adjusts his face into a sneer and strolls confidently over to Harry. "Potter" he says, making sure to keep a level of arrogance in his voice, "ready to reconsider your choice in friends yet?"

Harry eyes him wearily and then slowly shakes his head "I'm not going to stop being friends with Ron, if thats what you mean" He hesitates slightly before continuing "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends too" he says softly. Draco sneers in response "Yes it does" and stalks out of the dorm trying to pretend that his heart isn't pounding in his ears. _Why is this happening to me?_

Draco wanders down to the great hall, stomach grumbling. The tables are decked out with an abundance of food, more than all the students could possibly eat, but this isn't anything special to him, he's used to having Dobby at home. Thankfully it's still early and so not many students have gathered for breakfast yet and so Draco is able to get a seat by himself. He takes this opportunity to gather his thoughts before having to face anybody.

He is mid thought when he spots Bubo fly into the room. His stomach fills with a mixture of dread and hope. P_lease let father have a solution._

The response is brief:

_Draco,_

_You do not disappoint. All is going to plan. Severus helped. Be sure to make friends in your new house._

_Your Father_

Draco has to read the letter a few times before the meaning really sank in._ Father had planned this. He was supposed to be in Gryffindor. And somehow Snape was involved? _This was all just feeling a bit much for him and he struggled not to let the panic rise in his throat._ If this was fathers plan then that meant that he wasn't going to fix it. He wanted this to happen. And what about the part telling him to make friends? Was that about Harry? Did father want him in Gryffindor so that he could spy on Harry Potter?_

He let out a sigh and looked up from his letter, shocked to realize that the hall had filled up around him. He tucked the letter into his cloak pocket quickly hoping that nobody else had seen it. He could feel that somebody was standing close behind him and so he turned to regard who it was and tell them to back off if they didn't want to experience his wrath.

He was surprised to see two first year Slytherin boys standing behind him, shuffling on their feet uncomfortably. They were both large and thuggish in appearance, and the vacant expressions on their faces made it appear that they did not have many brain cells between them.

"Can I help you?" Draco asked, eyeing them with suspicion.

"I'm Crabbe" said the larger boy "and this is Goyle" he said pointing at his friend.

"Our fathers told us that we were supposed to seek you out on our first day at Hogwarts" Goyle continues, "apparently our parents have had an arrangement in place..." he pauses as if he is uncomfortable continuing but after a big breath quickly spits out "we're supposed to back you up. Help you with anything you need help with." He coughs uncomfortably, glancing at Malfoy as though afraid he's going to be told to leave. But Draco's face is forming its first smile since he arrived at Hogwarts. [i] of course! With all the distraction of being sorted into Gryffindor he had totally forgotten what father had told him about his henchmen who would be waiting for him [i/].

"Well," Draco says, unable to keep the grin off of his face "took your bloody time about introducing yourselves didn't you?!"

His smile grows as he sees the two boys squirm at his words. "Meet me this evening in the trophy room and I'll fill you in on everything that's happened so far. Until then, bugger off!" Draco says, making sure to fill his voice with authority like father had taught him. Clearly this worked well as the two boys fell over themselves running back to the Slytherin table. _Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all_.

.

.

The first morning of classes went by uneventfully for Draco, it was mostly just an introduction to all of the subjects that he would soon be taking and as he had grown up in a Wizarding family he had enough background knowledge to make the day a bit of a bore. It wasn't until the afternoon and his first ever potions lesson that the day started to become more interesting. Draco already knew Professor Snape quite well as he was a close friend to his father, and the pair had spent many late evenings locked away in Lucius' office. He also knew that Snape had somehow been involved in getting him sorted into Gryffindor, though he still didn't truly understand why. This was also the first lesson that Gryffindor would be sharing with Slytherin.

As soon he walked into the dungeon he knew that this class was going to be different to the rest. Snape was clearly not bothering with the boring introductory class that the rest of the professors had deemed necessary.

"You" Snape sneered, pointing at Seamus Finnigan and flicking back a strand of greasy black hair that had fallen into his face "will be paired up with... Parkinson" He said with a sly grin.

"Miss Granger, I think Mr Goyle would make the perfect partner for you" Both looked utterly repulsed at the idea.

"Malfoy. You'll be partnered up with the famous Harry Potter. Try not to be too starstruck." He chuckled darkly, "Now remember, you will be in these pairings for the rest of the year, so act wisely"


End file.
